Jon Carroll for SFGate….

My friend Reed Kirk Rahlmann is an actor, a street performer, a writer, a tour guide and a magician. We have lunch together occasionally, and we often talk about magic. He does it; I watch it; we have a lot in common.

He doesn’t tell me the secrets of the tricks he does onstage, but he will talk enthusiastically and well about magic in general. I really don’t know how the tricks are done (save for a few gimmicks I’ve learned over the years), but I do appreciate hearing about them from an expert.

I suppose I could have learned some magic secrets. I once bought a rubber thumb, a slightly larger version designed to fit over a real thumb. Nobody looks at thumbs, I was told. I could stuff some scarves (sold separately) into the thumb and then appear to draw them magically from my hand.

I couldn’t do it.   …..  Read More